The Chaos Experiment
by coketart
Summary: It was a foolish experiment, Chaos knew it, but he agreed. But was it right, in the end? Was it right to do what they did? R&R Please!
1. The Deal

**I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. **

**Please read and review! **

"_Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are"_

The little boy with the unnaturally shrill voice sat at the edge of a cliff, carelessly dangling his legs off the side, his eyes glazed over, staring into the distance. His lips only moved slightly as he sung, the words floating in front of him and then fading into the darkening sky. His hands were folded neatly in his lap, unmoving. It was odd, the stillness of the young boy.

"_Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky"_

Someone cleared their voice behind the boy. Said boy turned to look at the culprit of the noise, and the faintest trace of a smile stole over his lips as he beckoned the woman over. She came and sat next to the boy in exactly the same posture, seemingly shrinking in size until they were at a same height. The rhythmic thudding of her legs against the cliff fell into pattern with the boy's. Then, he spoke.

"Nyx. It has been too long. How are you?"

The girl, Nyx, sighed, and turned her dark eyes towards the boy, who was now staring at her intently. His eyes seemed so empty, yet so full, it was confusing for the goddess, and she looked away, away from the black holes that served as eyes for her creator.

"I am not well, Chaos, not well at all. The night is dying. Even though I have not faded, I can feel the humans draining my power. They have electrical lights that light up the sky at night. They make even the darkest of places shine bright."

Chaos seemed to think about this for a moment.

"What about the others? What of the others, Nyx, tell me. Tell me everything."

Nyx sighed.

"Tartarus was molded into a pit. He's not fading anytime soon. Erebos' spirit was chained into a wall guarding the Underworld, so he also isn't fading all too soon. And they have it good, Hades treats them well. He gives them monsters and company, and they are happy. The rest I have not seen in millennia."

Chaos frowned. His shoulders slumped, and, for a second, he looked like an old man, exhausted from a lifetime of work, wanting nothing more than to just shut his eyes and die. But Chaos was the only being that couldn't die. He couldn't just disappear, like the other gods did when they faded. Chaos was everything; he was a paradox. He couldn't disappear, it was physically impossible!

"What do you want me to do, Nyx? If I grow to my full power, everything will be destroyed, even you and the other primordial, and I will be alone." He leaned his head on Nyx's shoulder. Absentmindedly, he murmured, "what should I do…?"

"Well… I was hoping we could get help. I mean, none of the other protogenoi are going to help. The gods also aren't, and don't even get me started on the Titans. But what about… demigods?"

She knew she had said the wrong thing as soon as she thought the words. Chaos tensed and sat up, the air around them flickering with his anger. His eyes, which had once seemed like black holes, were like daggers on her skin now, and he was fuming with anger.

"You dare…" he said in a low voice, yet it shook the earth and made the sky shake. "You dare suggest such a thing? After what happened with Gabriel? You only ever think of yourself, Nyx, only yourself! You want to take the risk again, risk people's lives? Demigods that could be normal people and heroes? You don't hear yourself, Nyx! These children and young adults mean something to people!"

"Chaos, I meant no disrespect to Gabriel, or to demigods, or you! I was merely suggesting that we use them-" she was cut short by the thunder of Chaos's voice.

"Use them? That we use them? Like you used Gabriel? My first son in a thousand years, and you played him, making him think you were in love with him, and then just using his powers for your own benefit. We had all agreed he was to be an experiment, we'd give him powers like no other demigod but still have him normal, and not abuse him, but you broke your vow-"

"Yes, an experiment! We had agreed he was an experiment, Chaos, nothing less, nothing more. And I think it's high time we run another test. You saw what happened on Earth with the Titans, we need fighters! We need to have a crew that is prepared and trained for everything. I'm not saying we give them the powers that we gave Gabe, no, not at all. Gabe was special. These will just be like… like a small force, like behind-the-scenes warriors. People who are prepared for anything at any time."

"What exactly are you suggesting?"

Nyx let out a frustrated sigh.

"Don't you see, Chaos? It's time for another experiment! We need a guard, a crew, a legion, whatever you want to call it."

Chaos paused. He thought. Then, he raised his head, his eyes back to normal black holes, and stared intently at Nyx.

"All right, I see you point. But you and the other Protogenoi are in charge of this."

"Chaos. Chaos, you know that won't work. You know they'll need something of you. They'll need a blessing."

"Fine!" Chaos spat. "I'll give them my oh-so-special blessing. Increased speed and stamina, but that's all! Immortality may be granted, but there is no way I am making them gods. Invulnerability is not granted, it is optional, but if they die trying to get it, it's not my fault. I am also not giving them enough powers to overpower a god, well, maybe the commanders combined could topple a god. But no more!"

Nyx smiled.

"We are forever grateful, Chaos."


	2. Normal Life

There were no lights on in the house, but that didn't bother Teagan. It also didn't bother him that is was dark in the house and grey and raining outside. It was cold; his breath hung in front of him, slowly clouding up the window he was staring out of. His gaze was directed at the square in front of his house, a nice little square in Boston. There were four small streets leading to it from all sides, and trees lining the edges, blocking the views from the first story windows.

It was really quite beautiful when the sun was shining and it wasn't cold. Well, even in the cold rain, it had an odd artistic beauty to it, and Teagan could see Xavi, the young artist who lived across the square, painting at the window. The scene really must have been quite something, with the still green leaves, the water running off the sides of the buildings, just everything.

But Teagan had no eyes for the beauty. Said eyes were fixated on the alley next to Xavi's apartment house. He was waiting. The cold dark eyes never left the opening of the narrow street, searching the shadows for a sign, a flicker of motion, yet detecting nothing. A small sigh escaped the slightly parted pale lips and he blinked.

Then they were there. The people he had been waiting for. Carter Osborne, nicknamed Caro (by Teagan) or Ozzy (by everyone else), and Madeline Bennett. The two girls were looking around the square, seemingly tense, suspicious, yes, oddly paranoid. Their eyes scanned the area and Teagan quickly pulled back from the window, into the welcoming shadows of his nearly empty room.

A faint blush crept up his cheeks as he thought of what the girls would have said if they had seen him. Still watching them from the window, he stayed concealed in the shadows. It was only then that he noticed the taller figure following the girls. _Great, _he thought_, just great. _

_What the fucking hell is _he_ doing with them? _

John Ivory Skala, well- earning banker, 'FILF' at Teagan's school and Teagan's father, was following Caro and Madeline, or, they seemed to be beckoning him to follow them. He looked unsure at the unusually dark shadows, but followed the girls anyway, his bright red umbrella shielding him from the rain. Almost instinctively at this peculiarity in color, Teagan's eyes flew to Xavi, who had also seemed to notice the spot of color because he was frantically looking around, for red paint, presumably.

Teagan averted his eyes from the window, for he knew he should probably put on some presentable clothes. Usually when he met friends, he wore a colorful t shirt and grey or blue jeans with Nikes, it was also what he wore to school, but at home, he liked it simple. He was wearing a black sweater and jeans with dark grey checked suspenders hanging at the sides. His dark hair was hanging loosely around his face, slighty wavy, not hidden under a beanie.

For the first time though, he didn't feel the urge to change at the sight of his friends. He suddenly felt the comfortableness of the slightly large sweater, and the jeans that were held slighty below his hips by a red belt felt right.

Teagan turned and surveyed his room, wondering what Caro and Madeline would think. The walls were bear and white, well; actually they were different shades of grey, for the stone had only been covered partly with wall paper. The bed that stood in the corner next to the window was actually just three mattresses on top of a couple of wooden boards. His closet was actually a walk-in closet, though there were no shelves, so it was just a pile of clothes.

He heard knocking and then the familiar jiggling of keys as his father looked for the right one. Teagan made no haste to go answer the door, on the contrary, he back further into his room and sat down on the bed. Never once did his eyes leave the half-open door to his room, through which yellow/orange light now flooded, making it seem darker than before in it. As he heard the footsteps walking down the hall of the top-story apartment, he quickly lay down and grabbed the pair of headphones that were connected to his iPod and slipped them on his ears, turning the music up pretty loud.

He was actually surprised when he felt someone tap his shoulder; the iPod music trick had actually worked. His eyes flew open and he hastened to turn the iPod off, but found it had slipped from its place on his stomach and was now lying on the floor next to his bed. Cursing in his mind, he took the earphones off and pulled on the chord; the iPod came zooming up and hit the back of his hand.

Then the music was off and silence settled in the room.

"Well, this is not where I expected you to live," came the voice of Caro, who was looking around at the bare walls and sparse furniture. Teagan gave a nervous chuckle as the redhead walked towards his closet and tripped, her foot catching in a piece of clothing. To be exact, on his boxers from the previous day. "Ew, Tea, that's gross," she whined, but immediately stopped when she saw the snoopy print on them. "Snoopy?"

Teagan, now blushing bright red shrugged and got up, pulling the Snoopy boxers out of her hands and throwing them in the closet.

"My room, same rules as in you guys' rooms. The closet and any piece of _questionable_ clothing is taboo."

"That would be referring to the time when you found Caro's bright pink bra behind her desk, wouldn't it?" Madeline smirked, and it was Caro's turn to blush, and Teagan's turn to grin.

"Yeah, yeah, as I remember it, it also had _Hannah Montana_ motives on it, didn't it?"

"Oh, shut up, Tea. And you too, Maddy, it was _not_ funny."

At that time, John entered the room, and a heavy silence fell again. The older man's eyes darted from the blushing girl to his blushing son and back again.

"Did I miss something? Are the two of them dating and didn't tell you anything? Or did you catch them doing something they shouldn't have-" he started to question Maddy, but was interrupted by a shout from Caro.

"Oh, ah gross, oh god, my eyes, they're burning. Why, Mr. Skala, why did you have to put that- that image in my head? Oh, I'm gonna be sick!"

Teagan merely stared at his dad disbelievingly, and it was only Maddy who seemed to be able to think clearly.

"Mr. Skala, as I'm sure you may remember, Caro is already in a relationship and we have concluded your son to be asexual."

"What?" Teagan stared at Maddy with his eyes raised, but she shrugged.

"Well, at school, both girls _and_ some guys flirt with you, but you're never interested."

"I am too!"

"Yeah, that's why you just look at them blankly and start talking to your friends!"

"Okay, okay, children, please, calm down. We're here to discuss other things."

"Right." Maddy frowned, looking over at Caro, who still had her eyes shut tightly and was swatting with her hands around her head, as if still trying to make certain 'images' go away. "Ozzy! Get your mind out of the gutter and back with us!"

Caro slowly opened her eyes, which darted around the room quickly. She shuddered and took a step towards Maddy when her eyes met Teagan's. _Great_, he thought once more. _Now one of my best friends won't talk to me because my dad asked my other best friend if we were dating. I wonder what images she was… eww! Gross! Oh, that's just not right-_

"Teagan!"

Teagan's head snapped to attention as he looked at his father.

"Yeah? What? Sorry, just zoned out there-"

Maddy and Caro rolled their eyes, and Teagan's dad sighed.

"Teagan, there's something quite important you need to know. It's about a deal made in the midst of an emotional breakdown, and an experiment gone horribly wrong."

"My, isn't that bright?" Teagan muttered sarcastically, but no one laughed.

**Okay, that was the first chapter. Sorry I didn't include Percy yet, but no worries, he'll be in the next chapter. So, assuming TLO took place in 2009, the last chapter took place in 2010. This one is approximately 50 years later, in 2061.**

**Also, sorry that the first part of the chapter seemed a bit repetitive from the last one- these were actually going to be two separate stories.**

**Thank you for all the reviews and favorites and alerts, it really means a lot! Keep up the reviewing! **


	3. The Unexpected

"So let me get this straight," Teagan said. He was sitting on his bed, facing his father, who had pulled in a chair, and Caro and Maddy, who had sat down on the ground. "I don't have a soul. Where my soul is, is actually a part of Erebos, some god of darkness and shadows. And I'm supposed to go to some primordial base thing and be trained for an army. And meet a weird guy named Shore"

"You forgot the part about your commander, Atlantis," Caro muttered, and Teagan glared at her.

"And my commander –Atlantis- is some dude they kidnapped fifty years ago because he was a war hero."

"Yeah, pretty much, look, can we go now? We promised Atlantis we'd be there before midnight, and it's already ten in the evening," Caro said, looking at her watch and then at Maddy, who sighed.

"She's right. Atlantis already hates us as it is; we shouldn't keep him waiting."

"Oh, come off it, Maddy. You're part of Thalassa, you're one of the few people he gets along with."

The girls stood up, looking around the room. Teagan's dad also stood up and left the room, mumbling about getting something, and an awkward silence fell between the friends. Or were they just assumed friends, people who had been looking for him and now they found him, they'd abandon him? Teagan's head spun with questions as he remained sitting.

"Tea, we know it's a lot to take in, but seriously, you're starting to worry us. Say something."

Teagan's eyes lifted to meet Maddy's, but she averted hers last second.

"Why now? Why have you found me now? Why are you telling me now?"

"Well, the thing is, Tea, Tartarus and Erebos were the last two gods to agree to the Concordat. I've been looking for you for twenty three years, Caro longer."

"Thirty!" Caro interjected, shooting a glare at Teagan, as if it were his fault that she had to spend thirty years of her immortal life looking for him.

"So who's this Shore guy you've been talking about?"

Caro sniggered while a blush crept up into Maddy's cheeks.

"His real name is Warren Roma, and he is only the Soul of Phanes, god of sex and religion," Caro smiled dreamily, and Maddy punched her shoulder.

"You have your Madison, Ozzy, be quiet."

"Yeah, yeah, I won't talk about your smokin' hot BF anymore, 'kay? I guess I'll stick to my boy instead."

"Would you like me to repeat your words to Madison?"

"I'd really not appreciate that."

There they went again, talking about their girl stuff. Teagan rolled his eyes and walked over to the window, staring out once more. It had grown darker, but it was still raining. He could hear it on the roof, but he had live in that apartment so long it didn't bother him anymore. Across the square there was light illuminating Xavi's still painting figure. From what Teagan could tell, this would be one of the last times he'd see the eccentric artist, and it made him sad. Xavi really was a cool guy, and Xavi's boyfriend, Sam, was an amazing cook.

The two of them had been like brothers to Teagan as long as he could remember. They had been the mother he never had, the mother that had died giving birth to him.

"Teagan?"

His father's tentative voice pierced Teagan's thoughts, and it was only then that he noticed his room was empty and silent; Caro and Maddy's voices came quietly from the hall, they were probably waiting at the door for him. It was already eleven fifteen, according to his watch. Teagan turned to face his father, and, for the first time, his father looked old. He looked old and tired, standing under the bare bulb that was emitting bright light in the center of his room.

"Yeah, dad?" His voice was oddly quiet and hoarse, and, for a few seconds, the air felt awkward.

"I have something. Two somethings, actually. One of them is from Erebos. The other from your mother."

Teagan just nodded.

John sighed and walked over to Teagan's bed, placing two things on it: one small box, like a jewelry box, and something long, wrapped in grey cloth that was held in place by chords of some sort. He took the latter mentioned object first and turned to Teagan, holding it in his hands. He was running his eyes over it, as if he wasn't sure whether to give it to his son or not. Finally, he held it out, and Teagan took it, and unwrapped it.

It was a sword. Teagan was surprised to say the least, but he took the sword, and immediately, some kind of dark cloud enveloped the hand gripping the handle, his left one. _Damn_, he thought. _I'm right handed!_ But something clicked. The sword suddenly felt right in his left hand. It felt feather light but heavy at the same time; it was hard to explain. As soon as the thought settled in his mind, the cloud vanished. Teagan almost laughed out loud, it was so anti-climactic. The sword was now a simple black-bladed, black handled sabre.

"Uh, here, this goes with it," Teagan vaguely heard his father mutter and a belt with a sheath for the sword was handed to him. Teagan smiled in thanks and laid the sword the sword on the floor next to him. He pulled the silver belt buckle over the black one of his normal belt semi-tight, like in the movies, so that when he sheathed the his sword, it hung lower than the red belt, and the black leather crossed the red in an X.

"And this was from your mother," John now spoke, and Teagan's attention moved instantly to the jewelry box his father was now holding in his hands. It was a plain grey box, but it seemed to sparkle in the bad light from the light bulb. "She wanted you to have it. It, well, yeah, just… I dunno. Take it, I s'pose."

Teagan nodded and took the box in his hand, and opened it. In it was what he had least expected, honestly, and it was stupid. In it was jewelry. Two necklaces and a pair of earrings. They were obviously meant for girls, the earrings, seeing as there were two. Each was a small grey owl, and Teagan, for some odd reason, found them extremely cute. Apparently, they were a set along with one of the necklaces, which was the same owl, slightly bigger, on a silver chain. The other necklace was a leather band with several beads on it, clay, by the look of them.

"Dad, what was her name? What was mom's name?" It was the first time Teagan had asked this. That may have sounded odd, but it had always been an unspoken taboo. But now….

John sighed yet again (he seemed to be doing that a lot that evening), and looked his son in the eye.

"Annabeth. Annabeth Chase."

.

.

.

"Ah, Atlantis, glad you could make it," Chaos smiled as the young man entered the throne room. Atlantis said nothing, yet his sea green eyes portrayed his anger perfectly. Chaos sighed. It had not been his choice to take the war hero. He had wanted to give the boy some peace, but the other primordials had convinced him to take him.

"You summoned me, sir?"

It was not like the old Atlantis. The one who had been happy.

"Yes, Atlantis. We have found the Soul of Erebos. He will be in your command."

"The Soul, sir?"

"His name is, presently, Teagan Chase Skala."

Atlantis froze. His eyes widened. He shook his head. He collapsed. Why? Anyone, please, anyone, but him! Why did they torture him like this? Why? Why? Why, goddammit!

**O.o**

**That was unexpected. **

**Some questions you may want to consider:**

**What really happened to Annabeth?**

**Who is Atlantis (I think I made it quite obvious :P)?**

**Is Annabeth really dead?**

**REVIEW!**


	4. The Concordat

**I noticed there's a little confusion concerning Percy- don't worry! His story and all that will be explained as the chapters go on. And Annabeth, Nico, Thalia and camp will be in this, just later on.**

**And reviews, please? **

∞_**50 Years Ago**___

Odd dreams were not that uncommon to Percy. On contrary, he almost had odd dreams every night. Given, some of them were plain mortal odd, like magic ninja squirrels attacking him while floating on a cloud made of feathers, but others were non-mortal odd. They were the ones that usually warned him of danger and such, the ones sent by monsters or gods.

But this one was a new type. It was like he was actually awake, and in some weird palace. But he knew it couldn't be true because he was still asleep in his cabin. It was quite confusing for the son of Poseidon. But, instead of wondering how to get out of the dream like any normal teenager would, he decided to have a look around in the palace. There had to be a reason for him being there, and he might just as well find out.

Too bad, he figured, that he only had his boxers on. One, it was pretty cold in the palace, and two, Riptide was in his jeans pocket, from the ones he had been wearing yesterday. At the thought of Riptide, he felt something cool and metal appear in his right hand; he looked down, and, to his surprise, his lethal ballpoint pen was right there.

Odd.

"Ah, Perseus. Welcome."

Percy's head zoomed up and his eyes scanned the room for the source of the voice. A small sigh was heard, and suddenly, a boy sitting on a throne materialized. As the bits and pieces still assembled, the boy seemed to grow in height and age, until he was roughly eight feet tall and looked to be in his mid-thirties.

"Uh… do I know you?" Percy asked, failing to think of something better (or wittier, as Annabeth would have said) to say. "And can you turn the heating on?"

"Oh, sorry, my mistake." The man waved his hand, and immediately, Percy felt warm. He looked down to see dark blue and green robes clothing his body; very comfortable, he noted. "As to your first question, no, I don't think you know me. But you have heard of me, most likely from that girlfriend of yours, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. How do you know Annabeth? Are you a stalker or something? 'Cause I'd hate to be stalked by a god, or whatever you are."

Again, the man sighed.

"No, I am not a stalker. You have Pontus to thank for the information I have on you. Anyway, I was going to answer your question. I am Chaos."

Percy racked his brain for the name 'Chaos' and thought of everything Annabeth had taught him about the Greek gods in his seven years at camp. Chaos… Chaos… Chaos! That first dude, who created everything! Percy felt himself jump to attention and bow down to the god in respect, though he didn't quite know why. Maybe it was his body's natural reaction.

"I see you do know me. Good, that makes everything easier. Well, Perseus-"

"Percy."

"Percy, then. Well, Percy, it is my pleasure, or displeasure, to inform you that you have been chosen by the council of eleven primordials, missing four, in accordance with the Great Concordat that has yet to be signed by Tartarus and Erebos, that you are to be the commander of the Soul Legion of the Primordial Army."

"The what-what-what?" Percy asked, confused. Unfortunately, his brain was already piecing things together, and he was not liking the results, not one bit.

"Percy… eleven of the primordial gathered a year ago. Together, they made an agreement, to build an army. At the beginning, the idea had been small, just to have one small elite of warriors, trained by the best to be the best, to have in times of trouble. Then the ideas grew, and we, or rather, the other ten, came up with the Concordat. In this, it stated that we had an army, and one part of it, the Soul Legion, was to be the elite army that had been envisioned in the first place.

'All primordials were to pick a child and transfer a part of them into the child's Soul, and when the child would be found and brought to the Base, they would stop aging; they would become immortal. But we couldn't agree on a leader. I was refusing to put any part of myself into an infant's soul, I just have this moral code against that, so I said I'd pick a demigod, a true leader. And then I found you."

"This sounds an awful lot like I'm going to be staying here," Percy muttered.

"You assume correctly, Perseus. As of now, your name is not Perseus Jackson anymore. Only I may call you that and the people I allow it. From now on, your name is… Atlantis. You are the commander of the Soul Legion. Welcome to the universe, Commander Atlantis."

The power of the words sunk into Percy before he had a chance to open his mouth and speak, to protest, to make it clear to Chaos that he didn't want to be there.

But no such luck.

∞_**Present**___

Teagan was following Maddy and Caro through the dark streets of Boston, drenched to the bone, the other people apparently not noticing the four foot sword hanging at his side. Ever since he had left the apartment house with two necklaces on and an owl stud in his ear, they had said nothing to him. It was slightly annoying but also relieving. He didn't really feel like talking much anyway.

"All right, Tea, we're here," he heard Maddy say, and promptly ran into said girl. They were standing at the water in the harbor somewhere, though Teagan couldn't tell where at night. A shrill whistle from his right brought him out of his wonderings of where he was, and he covered his ears, glaring at Caro, who had emitted the whistle. She shrugged and pointed out at the water.

Out of the darkness of the night, a huge black shape was emerging. At first Teagan thought it was a cloud, then an uber-large person, but finally, he could see that it was a gigantic cruiser ship. In a blur, he felt Maddy take his hand, and an odd rushing sensation filled his brain. When he opened his eyes, he was on the dark wood of the cruiser, standing across from an eight-foot man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties and a smaller figure next to the guy, who was glaring daggers at Teagan.

Oh, he felt so welcome there.

**Review, yes?**

**Some questions:**

**How did Percy say goodbye to Annabeth?**

**Did Percy say goodbye to Annabeth?**

**What the heck happened to Annabeth?**

**How did the camp deal?**

**How did Poseidon deal?**

**How did Percy deal?**

**Should I stop asking questions?**

**I think I should.**

**Review!**


	5. Preparing to Fight

∞_**50 Years Ago**___

"Percy?" Annabeth stood in front of her boyfriend's cabin, looking worried. She had had a dream the previous night, and it hadn't been a good one. Percy had simply vanished, and in her dream, she had a vision- Percy was being held, bound down by chains, screaming for Annabeth to hear him. She had wanted to tell him it would be all right, that they'd wake up to a new day soon, but she found herself unable to talk. "Percy, open up, it's me!"

It was about six in the morning, so no one else was awake. Annabeth frowned when the door stull didn't open, and finally resorted to climbing in through a window. Percy always had the ones facing the ocean open; something about having a nice smell in his room. Annabeth could only tell the difference early in the morning (sometimes, she slept over), when the fresh salty breeze woke her up.

To her dismay, Annabeth found the cabin empty. If this had been a normal day, Annabeth would have presumed Percy had just been sleepwalking or had gone to the beach. Something was different though. All the beds were made and the floor was clean. The drawers where Percy kept his clothes in were open but empty. It was perfectly still. Too perfect. On Percy's bed was a note.

_Annabeth, listen to me._

_I didn't want to leave. I'm not allowed to say who or what took me, or where I am, but I'm saying it might be for the better. I mean, have you looked around camp lately? There are so many new campers, and us fighters from the war are forgotten. The Stolls, Clarisse and so are in college, Grover is busy with his Lord of the Wild duties, and Chiron has his hands full with campers and new heroes. No one's heard from Nico since last year._

_And maybe we're the same. We're growing apart and away, Annabeth. And maybe that's for better. You won't see me again. Ever._

_I'm sorry to end it this way._

_-Percy_

Annabeth stared at the letter, open-mouthed. How could he…? How could he be so cruel? Why did he do this to her, why? If her mind hadn't been clouded by sorrow and anger, she would have determined that the handwriting was too neat to be Percy's, and the style completely wrong, but she couldn't think of those things. Percy was gone. He had broken up with her per letter and running away.

It was then that Annabeth noticed two things. One was the truth in the letter. There were new heroes at camp, and hardly anyone talked to the older campers anymore. The second one was how boys really were stupid and useless. She sighed. Artemis would have been proud for realization. Artemis. Artemis. Artemis! Annabeth's thoughts brightened. Yes, Artemis was the answer.

Now Percy was gone and she figured she hated boys more than anything at the present time, it seemed like the only logical choice. She'd join the hunters.

∞_**Present Time**___

"Hello, young Mr. Skala. As Phoenix and Maddox have, I hope, informed you," the tall guy glared pointedly at Maddy and Caro, "I am Chaos."

"Phoenix and Maddox, sir?"

"Ah, I see. You may know them as Madeline and Carter respectively, but those aren't their real names. You are to call Madeline Phoenix and Carter Maddox. In a shot while, you shall lose your current identity too, and you will also be given a new name. One that suits you better than _Teagan_." The way Chaos said his name made Teagan angry, for it was almost spiteful, demeaning, but he decided to say nothing. Maddy and Caro had made it pretty obvious that neither Chaos nor this Atlantis dude were people (or were they gods?) to mess with.

"Yes, I understand, sir."

"Brilliant." Chaos smiled. "Well then. You will meet your commander, Atlantis, after you have finished the Tests, which will take place in the Arena downstairs. The Test begins… right now."

Chaos turned on the spot, his cloak swirling around him. Atlantis followed him, and so did the few other people and beings (some of them looked pretty monster-like to Teagan). Maddy and Caro, sorry, Phoenix and Maddox (he'd never get used to that) each looped one of their arms through his and started dragging him towards the large door everyone was going in to. Teagan expected to be pulled through it too, but right before it, he was lurched into a side room.

"Okay guys, what is-" he turned to see Phoenix and Maddox's ice cold expressions.

"We wish you the best of luck, unnamed warrior, Soul of Erebos." As they pushed by him (he was stunned, to say the least), Caro breathed a few words in his ear.

"Good luck, Tea. Get out alive, that's what counts."

Now a guy who was roughly Teagan's age stepped out of the shadows of the room, pulling a heavy looking cart behind him. As he stopped, Teagan peered into the cart, and, to his surprise, he saw armor in there. In all honesty, he had been expecting food or ice cream, or even water, but not armor. He was starving. His eyes scanned the armor, and figured it was not all one set. There were multiple colors that looked to way different amounts.

"Hello, Soul of Erebos. I am here to suit you out with armor. What type do you prefer? Let's see… we have normal leather, though that won't last you three seconds, we have, oh, yes, you can play it safe with medieval bronze, though that really would weigh you down…." The boy kept rambling on and on, until Teagan put his hand up to stop him.

"Hi, my name's Teagan."

The boy sighed.

"You'll find most people call me 'Death Breath'. But my name is Madcap. I am in the Aerocorps. It's the elitist you'll get without being in the elites, like you'll be."

"Aerocorps? Elite? What the hell's going on?"

"It will be explained later. For now, you need to choose your armor."

**Short chapter. Very short. I don't really like it. I know Annabeth was very OOC, and I apologize for that. Please, review! I am losing interest in this story….**


	6. Fighting for a Name

**Yay for three day weekends! Please review!**

In the end, with some assistance of Madcap, Teagan settled for some black armor that was a mix of metal and leather. It was literally a mix- Madcap had explained some long and complicated procedure that seemed to end in cows and such producing rather thick, metalloid leather. It was extremely basic; a breastplate, shin guards and forearm guards. This made Teagan wonder what possible horrors he'd be facing in the Arena, but Madcap just ushered him out a door at the back of the room and down a hall.

"So, what am I actually going to have to be doing?"

Madcap sighed.

"Well, you'll go in there, and it'll be an arena, basically. Chaos will send something that will test you, and you have to kill it. And don't get yourself killed. That's what my test was. Based on your movement and so, you, as a Soul, will get an animal companion. And you will get a name, but that usually has nothing to do with anything. I mean, I still have no clue why he called me Madcap, but I go with it."

"What was your real name?" Teagan asked, though he somehow knew it was wrong. Madcap frowned and looked to the floor.

"I don't know. None of us here do. I think it's some kind of charm. I mean, I actually do know, I just can't tell you. It's not a name, it's sort of a feeling I have. My mind is screaming my name at me right now, but it's like it's in a foreign language, and I physically can't say it."

Teagan bit his lip. Would that happen to him too? Would he get a nickname and then forget what his real name was? What would happen? What was going on? But wait… Maddy and Caro seemed to know Shore's real name… or was that also just… ugh, this was so confusing! Maddy and Caro weren't their real names. So… Warren Roma probably also wasn't Shore's real name. They were probably just names they liked so that they didn't have to call themselves Phoenix, Maddox, and Shore the whole time.

He felt Madcap's hand give him a small push on the shoulder through the now open door (when had it opened?) and he stumbled into… into nothingness.

∞_**ATLANTIS**___

Atlantis was not happy. Usually, Chaos didn't make him watch the new Souls fight their way to their name, but he had insisted that he watched the boy. Annabeth's boy. No, he reminded himself. This was just a test. Just a stupid test Chaos was putting him through. Soon, this boy wouldn't remember his real name and start using one he came up with, like Shore, Phoenix and Maddox did.

It took most of his self-control not to laugh as the boy was pushed into the Arena, which was three feet lower than the door. As he stood up, his face was dark red, as a small laugh had passed through the stands of the Arena at his fall. Atlantis shook his head and turned to Chaos, who nodded. When everyone had settled again and the boy was looking around uneasily, Atlantis called a moisture cloud.

After a brief rushing in his ears, he materialized from the water in front of the boy, who looked shocked. Atlantis bowed his head, and the boy did the same. Then, Chaos' voice sounded loudly through the completely still Arena.

"Primordial Army! I welcome the Aerocorps, the fifth and sixth regiments, and the Soul Legion and its commander to the test of this unnamed warrior, Soul of Erebos!"

Polite applause filled the room.

"As a test, he will have to fight his commander. The set rules are: no killing. No mortally wounding. You fail the test if you surrender. You pass when I decide so. Now, in the words that come originally from me, I was talking about… never mind. Let the games begin!"

Applause filled the hall, though this time is was energetic and loud. Atlantis' eyes focused in on the boy, who looked ready to pee his pants. Atlantis, however, did not make the mistake to underestimate the boy. He assumed the Soul was like the primordial god he had in him- very quiet and controlled, though he could strike the hardest when it came down to it. All Atlantis had to do was keep it simple, and he'd keep the upper hand.

From the first strike on, Atlantis knew two things: one, the boy had never held nor handled a sword in his life. Two: he couldn't keep his steady upper hand if he continued using the sword. His had to get the boy to knock the sword out of his own very hands. The one thing that could help Atlantis now was the one thing no one could beat him at: hand-to-hand combat.

Atlantis was clumsy on purpose. But the boy was hopeless. Finally, Atlantis couldn't take it anymore. The boy's careful, predictable moves, his face displaying every single emotion, the slow pace of their game. He charged. His sword hit the boy's black one and sent it clattering to the stony ground. Just as he was about to hit the boy's head with the butt of his sword, he found no boy there to hit.

His eyes narrowed as they scanned the area, but being sent sprawling forwards told him where the soul had gone. Instead of face-planting, like he would have fifty years ago, he pulled his head in and his legs up, doing a flip and landing on both feet facing the boy, but the damage was done. The boy's eyes were now torn wide open, alert, and his foot came up and Atlantis' sword was sent flying through the Arena.

Technically, Chaos should have stopped the fight at that point. It was a tie; the Soul had passed, and Atlantis hadn't killed him. But there was no whistle, no nothing, and the Soul attacked. His moves were oddly fluent and quiet, but they were also what Atlantis had expected.

The next two or three minutes were pointing. For every time Atlantis wanted to catch the Soul, the boy was gone. Whenever the Soul wanted to hurt Atlantis, Atlantis didn't feel it through his invulnerability, and tried to attack the Soul again, and so the cycle repeated. That was, until he heard a sharp whistle from Chaos. It was weird, the point at which Chaos had whistled, Atlantis found.

Atlantis' arm was wrapped around the Soul's armor- clad chest, which would have crushed any normal mortal. The Soul's back was to Atlantis, but his arm was across Atlantis' neck, which might have lightly bruised him if he were mortal.

"Well played, Soul of Erebos, and Atlantis. Well played indeed." Chaos' voice sounded through the Arena. Atlantis frowned. Was he somehow at a disadvantage? He turned his neck, and, immediately, his eyes widened from the instinctive fear of something sharp pointed at his face. It was a small rock, aimed directly in between his eyes, hovering maybe a quarter of an inch in front of Atlantis' face.

Atlantis growled, pushing the Soul off him.

"That was foul play," he sneered. "In a fair fight, you wouldn't stand a chance. It was foolish of you, Soul of Erebos. You never-" he was interrupted by Chaos at this point, who had materialized next to him.

"Enough, Atlantis. The warrior did what need be done to prove himself. However," he turned to the Soul, "Atlantis is right. It was foolish of you to ignore the rules of a fair fight. But, then again, had this fight been fair, you would have been dead within three seconds of it starting. Remember, never count on being able to play dirty tricks.

"But for now, let us forget the young warrior's mistakes. This Soul must be given a name and a companion. I have watched you, Soul of Erebos. Your style is elegant yet lethal, like the panther who shall escort you. Furthermore, you will abandon your name given to you by your mortal father. It is not but a memory of your old self.

"From now on, we all hail, Soleil, Soul of Erebos!"

**Watcha think? REVIEW!**


	7. Turning to Darkness

**So sorry I haven't updated in a bit. Have had quite a hectic week, and to be honest, after my day trip to Dresden last weekend, I kinda forgot about this. But don't worry! I'm still here, and coming up in one of the next chapters is a twist you most definitely won't expect, so stay tuned and REVIEW!**

_So panthers_, Soleil thought as he followed Chaos through the jungle. His test had only been yesterday, and he already couldn't really remember his real name. But for an odd reason, he was fine with that. All he wanted now was to meet his companion, go back to the Base (which apparently wasn't actually a giant ship, just an island that moved and looked like a ship) and practice sword fighting with Madcap.

Absorbed in his thoughts, he didn't notice that Chaos stopped, and ran straight into the god.

"Ouch," he muttered, rubbing his nose. "What the- oh."

Soleil's gaze had followed Chaos' to a black feline face in front of them. The panther was huge; larger than any panther (or picture of a panther) he had ever seen before. Its teeth were blazing white, razor sharp and bared at the two beings in front of it, and its menacing aura swept out in waves, practically paralyzing Soleil with fear.

Oddly though, the fear felt good to Soleil. It felt warm and welcome, almost comforting. Whereas Chaos bowed his head in respect to the panther, Soleil just slowly walked up, and looked the cat in the eye. Then, the weirdest thing happened.

Soleil felt himself get down on all fours. His head was bent up, his teeth bared slightly. He felt the power of his surroundings, felt the power within himself, and felt strong, feline senses taking over him, pushing all human (immortal or not) to the back and almost out of his brain.

He was pulled out of his trance when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around; his instincts told him to attack and kill, but the second his eyes made contact with those of Chaos, his animal instincts were replaced by those of a human, and he felt oddly ashamed, humiliated even, and stood up, brushing the dirt off his pants.

"I see why you would choose a panther for this warrior," he heard the panther's voice behind him. "Hello, cub. I am Bagheera. What is your name?"

"I am Soleil," he answered, his voice clear in the jungle. Begheera snorted, and turned to Chaos.

"Soleil? Really? Calling the Soul of Erebos Soleil? Sun? Are you mad, Chaos? Wait, don't answer that. But, still, what were you thinking?"

Chaos shrugged.

"You know me, Bagheera, I was never good with names."

"Ah yes, I know. I heard that you called that boy, Madcap, Flitterleaf at first."

If Chaos could have blushed, Soleil was sure the god would have been red as a tomato.

"Alright, alright, you have a point. Since you, as a panther, _are_ his animal bond, I guess it would be appropriate for you to give this warrior a more suitable name," he muttered, not meeting eyes with Bagheera or Soleil.

"Okay, first off, I would like to get this straight for the boy: _I_ am not his bond. Some other cub will be. And secondly, thank you. Now to us, cub." His eyes fixated on Soleil. "Hmm… alright, yes, okay. How about… Skelett. Or, Skeleton. Whichever you prefer, really." Soleil raised his eyebrows, and was about to respond, when he was cut off by Chaos.

"Those are absurd, Bagheera. I think Soleil suits the boy."

"You are daft, Chaos, Skeleton is the much better choice."

"Ink," came a low growl from the bushes.

"Ink?" Soleil asked, and the bushes (ferns, probably) laughed.

"Ink. It suites him."

"Err…" Soleil wanted to say, but, yet again, was cut off by Chaos.

"Show yourself, panther!"

A smaller panther than Bagheera stepped into the light. A lot smaller, as Soleil noted. Definitely very young.

"And why would you call this young cub Ink?" Bagheera asked the other panther, who shrugged (well, he sort of lowered his head and lifted his shoulder as best he could whilst Soleil wondered if panthers could even really shrug like humans could) a nonchalant shrug, like it wasn't supposed to be a shrug at all, just a symbol of indifference.

"It is a synonym for darkness. I figured it would match the boy, once you're done training him."

"Then why not just call him Darkness?" Chaos asked, and the panther chuckled.

"Well, you could do that, but Ink sounds a lot better, doesn't it? I mean, do you call your commander Sunken Forgotten City that No One Cares About?"

Chaos paused.

"I guess I don't. Very well then." He turned to Soleil, who really had no clue what was going on. "I hereby give you the name _Ink_. You will become your name, and forget you ever had a different one."

Ink felt an odd shiver run down his back, and a sudden emptiness in his head, like he had forgotten something, but he couldn't figure out what.

"Alright, now that's done, back to business. Ink here needs a panther."

Bagheera closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them to look at the other panther. If panthers had eyebrows, Ink was sure Bagheera's would be raised right now. The other panther sighed, though he didn't seem too unhappy. Bagheera pulled his maw into a smile, and reached a paw out to Chaos, as if they were shaking on a deal. Chaos looked doubtful, but took the paw anyway, shaking it.

It was only then that Ink noticed that the other panther was also holding out his paw, though to him. Slightly bewildered, he took it, and shook. It was the weirdest thing ever. The energy flow between them became visible, at least to Ink, and it seemed equal. So balanced, as if everything in the universe was perfect.

It only lasted for a second. Then the hands (and paws) were dropped, and the colors of reality came crashing down on Ink, momentarily blinding him.

"Awesome. Ink, meet Grant Rigby Camden of Worcestershire VII. Grant Rigby Camden of Worcestershire VII, meet Ink."

"Grant Rigby…" Ink started, but the panther raised his paw to silence him.

"Call me Tony."

**Again, sorry for the long wait. I was also just in Munich for four days. **

**To those who may be confused, Teagan Chase Skala became Soleil, but the name apparently didn't suit him, so it got changed to Ink. His animal partner, a panther, is called Tony for short. Tell me if a different name suits him better!**

**There will be more Percy in the next chapter, don't worry. I will try to update more frequently.**

**Until then, REVIEW!**


	8. Animalistic

Ink would have liked to say that after he got Tony as a companion, things would get easier. Unfortunately, they didn't. None of the problems had to do with Tony- the panther was the best partner Ink could have wished for. It was his commander, Atlantis. The guy who hated him for no reason, and pushed him past his breaking point every single session. Almost every day, Ink would leave the arena, his emotions violently displayed across his face.

And the worst part? People laughed. They called him a pussy; quite some Soul he was. He was weak, weaker than the eighteenth regiment, and that was apparently saying quite something.

But one day, it changed.

"Again," Atlantis snarled at Ink, who was kneeling on all fours on the floor, his sword lying three feet away from him, the sweat dripping off his brow. He was panting, desperately trying to get air into his lungs, and he was exhausted, wanting nothing more than to go to his room and sleep. His arms hadn't gained any muscle in the five weeks he had been at the Base, no, they had just gotten skinnier and weaker.

"I. Can't," Ink hissed, and he heard Atlantis laugh.

"Sure. Of course not. You want to know why? 'Cause you're weak, Ink, you're so weak. Now get up and be a man!"

Ink couldn't take it any longer. With a shout, he jumped up and charged at Atlantis, knocking the commander off his feet. The swords were abandoned, every manner of civilized fighting was, as they fought with not only fists and feet, but also bighting, scratching, and anything else they could think of. Animal instincts were taking over- panther for Ink and something else for Atlantis. It seemed wild and enduring, strong and swift, though easily scared and actually fleeing creature, not a fighting one.

Ink was surprised to find himself with the upper hand. His nails, which had gotten oddly sharp ever since his meeting with Bagheera, were clutching into Atlantis's shoulder, and his feet were braced on the commander's lower back. Atlantis was swaying back and forth, throwing his body on the floor and rolling over, trying to get Ink off his back, but Ink clung fast. As Atlantis tried to stand up, panting, Ink acted almost naturally.

His left hand released Atlantis's shoulder, swung up, and flew at Atlantis's neck. It was a killing strike. Ink was ready for this, he wanted nothing more than to kill Atlantis, but just as his nails wanted to sink into Atlantis's flesh, they were stopped. Ink's eyes flashed to the culprit of this, and widened when they met Chaos' eyes.

The god looked positively furious. His dark eyes were blazing red, his mouth a fine line of pale pink. His skin was pure black. Waves rolled from him, angry waves, but they were calming. They brought the warriors back to their senses. Ink fell off Atlantis, who also collapsed on the floor.

"I shouldn't have done this. It was a mistake. I- I…" Chaos muttered, calming down, his eyes surveying the Arena. "You two… it was a bad idea… I- I need to fix this. Wait… no, I can't. It can't be undone. The bond. It's done. Nothing- nothing can be done." And with that, he vanished.

The whole Arena was quiet.

Then, "Get out." It was quiet, but Ink heard it clearly. He turned to Atlantis, who was glaring at him. "I said get out. Your training is done. Now GET OUT!" he shouted the last two words. Ink, his eyes wide in surprise at the commander's angry outburst, quickly pulled himself up and stumbled out of the arena, but not before hearing "And never come back to training, ever!" from a very mad Atlantis.

.

.

.

It was later that night when Ink dared go out of his room. Something that had been happening increasingly often in the past five weeks happened: he forgot his name. It was almost like when he had been given it, something hadn't clicked the right way, and his name was like a hat; it could fly away at the slightest wind.

Ink wanted to find Chaos.

Outside the door to Chaos' study, Ink paused, his senses alert. There were voices inside, Atlantis and Chaos, by the sound of it.

"-don't know, Chaos, I just flipped out. There was something so animalistic, it's hard to explain. It was in both of us, and in him, it was taking over. The boy's dangerous, Chaos."

A sigh.

"You're right, Percy. Oh don't look at me like that. I know you remember your own name. I did that on purpose. You were the only one who wasn't allowed to forget who he was. But the boy… Ink… I think we've found our other exception. His name… it doesn't suit him. But, then again, neither did any of the others he had! I mean, Teagan Skala was just weird, Soleil meant sun, and Ink is just lame."

"Yes, sir. I agree. What do you suggest we do?"

"Well… I was thinking about this, and I have no clue. I mean, if he ever finds out any of this, he'll be dangerous. He'll remember who he was, and, well, let's just say it'll be bad. Very bad. And-"

He was about to continue, but, subconsciously, Ink had made a mistake. He had cleared his throat. Some invisible force sent him crashing through the door. He heard a few vague shouts, some furniture falling, a body falling onto him, and some rapid words spoken in some foreign language, then darkness.

.

.

.

"Quick, get Chiron! These two guys just fell from the sky!"

**One word: Review! Please! I really need the inspiration to keep this going!**


	9. The Shock

**THE CHAOS EXPERIMENT PART 2: CAMP**

**Alrighty, this is where I switch to first person and the plot takes that twist you weren't expecting. REVIEW!**

_**NO NAME (Teagan/Soleil/Ink)**_

When I woke up, I imagined it to be more dramatic. You know, like in those movies where you wake up and don't know who or where you are and why there's weird people everywhere? Well, I knew where I was- well, I knew I fell from what feels like outer space and landed on grass, so I assumed I was still in the area. I didn't know who I was- scratch that, I knew exactly who I was; I just didn't know my name. And lastly, I really was kind of wondering why there were weird people around me.

They were wearing armor- nothing out of the norm- over orange t shirts and jeans/cargo pants/furry backsides/anything else. I couldn't see much because there was only a small crack in the curtains that surrounded my bed. My bed… it was really nice and soft, I thought, as I relaxed into the mattress. And cozy.

Then my mind started a recap. I remembered the rainy day I had been told I was part primordial god and had gotten jewelry from my mom, who apparently died at childbirth. I remembered my friends- Phoenix and Maddox- taking me to Base, where I battled my commander, Atlantis, and beat him in an unfair fight. Then I got a panther who had a horribly long name but preferred to be called Tony, and training started. Training sucked- my commander hated me and I only saw Phoenix and Maddox once a week. The only good thing about it was… uh… I'll get back to you on that.

Now about a name… my mind trailed off, running through a list of names I had always wanted- pretty awesome names, might I add. They were names like Zebulon, Milan, Arcade, Eyrie- cool names. But, I figured, I'd have to have a somewhat normal name. I frowned, trying to think of a normal, but still cool name. It wasn't as easy as you might think! I had just settled on a name, when my thoughts were interrupted and I lost it.

"Ah, I see you're awake." I lifted my head to look at the person who was speaking. It was a guy, probably in his mid-fifties, with brown hair and a small scraggly beard. As I looked at him, I noticed something was off. The guy was huge! I mean, really tall. I looked down, and my eyebrows seemed to raise themselves as I saw that instead of legs, he had a horse body.

"You're a horse," was all I could say. The man laughed- a good natured and hearty laugh.

"A centaur, my boy. A centaur. I am-"

"Chiron, yeah, I remember." Chiron frowned.

"You remember?"

"Yeah, I was at this…" I paused, wondering if I could trust Chiron. I decided to play it safe. "This place, uh, school, and we were talking about myths and learning about them. Yeah." I could tell that Chiron didn't believe me, but he didn't say anything.

"Well then, could you tell me your name?"

Oh shit. I drew a complete blank, and I felt my face flush. My eyes darted around, looking for something. They fell on a rose.

"Ro- Thorn. My name's Thorn." Thorn as a last name? Thorn as a first name? Oh damn, I needed two names. I quickly thought of my favorite holiday- Halloween, but figured that that would be an odd surname. So, my second favorite holiday. "Thorn Valentine." My eyes shot up to Chiron's still disbelieving face. I guess he noticed that I noticed he didn't believe me, and smiled again.

"Okay, Thorn. Have you been claimed yet?"

"Claimed, sir?"

He sighed.

"I thought not. Well, off to the Hermes cabin with you." He looked behind him and was about to call out to someone, but I stopped him.

"Wait! Erebos."

Chiron's head swiveled back and he looked me in the eye, every trace of happiness wiped from his face.

"Erebos? You are a son of Erebos?"

Uh… telling him about being part Erebos would be just plain weird and raise many eyebrows, I just nodded meekly.

"Are you sure, Thorn? Absolutely sure?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but found myself unable to speak. So, I just nodded, not breaking eye contact. He looked down.

"Very well. Forgive me for acting weirdly, it is just, we have two prophecies looming over our heads and are suspicious of anyone having to do with primordials. I am sorry." Ookay, so I definitely won't tell them about the Primordial Army. "I will inform the Athena cabin to build a cabin for you. It should be ready by this evening. Until then, I will have someone guide you around camp and fill you in on some things concerning the gods."

Chiron turned around and walked away, but not before opening the curtains around my bed. I looked around, and my eyes widened. There, on the bed next to me, lay Atlantis, or, Percy, as I had heard Chaos call him. My eyes swept the room- no one looking. Good. I got up and stumbled over to At- Percy's bedside, not sure what to expect.

"Um… Atlantis?" the shake of his head was so miniscule, had I not been able to see shadows more clearly than the average person, I would have missed it. "So, Percy then. Alright. Look… what exactly happened?"

Percy sighed.

"Look, I can't explain now, uh…"

"Thorn," I filled in for him.

"Right, Thorn. I can't explain. I'll come to your cabin tonight. We can talk then. And… don't let anyone find out about our… profession, okay? I'll explain later."

"Ah, I see you two know each other," I heard Chiron say behind me. I spun around, my left hand going instinctively to where my sword was supposed to hang, but I found it not to be there. Hurriedly, I scratched my side, as not to raise suspicions. Chiron didn't seem to have noticed, for his eyes were on Percy.

"Uh, yeah, we, uh, were in the, uh, same place," I muttered. Chiron nodded and turned to me.

"Interesting…. Okay, Thorn, this is Kenneth Blake. Kenneth, this is Thorn Valentine. Please show him around camp."

I looked at Kenneth, and that look turned into a straight-out stare. The déjà-vu fell upon me as I looked over the shaggy blond hair, the serious face, the high cheekbones, the firm jawline, the tanned skin… only the eyes were not the ones I remembered. Kenneth's eyes were bright green, whereas I had thought of them as... well, faded gold.

"Um, dude, I don't have anything against you, but I don't swing that way," Kenneth joked nervously, a faint pink blush creeping over his cheeks. I gave myself a shake and laughed a little bit.

"No, sorry, well, I also don't, it's just you remind me of some-" my eyes strayed to Percy, who was shaking his head violently. Ookay, apparently I am not reminded of someone. "Never mind. Sorry. Let's go."

.

.

.

The day had passed uneventfully. Kenneth, who insisted everyone called him Kenny, had shown me around the camp- impressive, but nothing like the Base. At dinner, Chiron announced that the camp had two new campers- probably me and Percy, but he didn't mention our names. Kenny had gone to sit with his siblings, a boy named Basil and a girl named Janette, at the Hades table, and I went to sit at the main table, seeing as I was claimed but didn't have a table or a cabin yet. The Athena cabin said they'd be done with both by ten in the evening.

Percy was sitting at the Poseidon table with three siblings- two boys, twins, by the names of Owen and Simon, who appeared to be antisocial. Percy's other sibling, a girl named Marina (her mom was soo creative naming a daughter of Poseidon Marina), was probably the most annoying person I had met, and I hadn't even met her yet! Apparently, she was the most popular girl at camp.

But enough of her. I wasn't hungry, oddly enough. I just sat quietly throughout the meal, listening to Mr. D complain about something and Chiron talking to some satyrs. I wondered if I could leave early.

At about nine thirty, an Athena camper named Cruz came in to the Big House to tell us my cabin was finished.

_Finally,_ I thought as I got up to follow Cruz and Chiron. I couldn't wait to get away from those crazy people.

The cabin was small and made completely out of black stone. I was expecting Cruz or Chiron to open the door for me, but instead, we just stood there. Why? There was no door. Uhh… okay. Cruz and Chiron looked at me expectantly, but I just shrugged. Honestly, I had no clue what on earth to do.

"Um… Thorn? You can go in, you know?" Cruz said.

"There's no door," I stated. Cruz laughed out loud, and even Chiron chuckled a bit.

"Of course not. This isn't stone, Thorn, this is shadow. Only you can enter it, and no one else can go in unless you give them specific permission," Cruz explained, and I felt kind of stupid.

Taking a deep breath, I walked right into the stone.

And found out Cruz hadn't been lying. I passed through the stone, or shadow, as easily as, well, I would pass through normal air.

The room was illuminated by jars upon jars of fireflies (odd, but okay, I'll go with it) of every color, and they were everywhere. Some even floated in midair, and when I walked towards them, they simply swung out of the way, clearing a path for me. Awesome! In the one corner, there was a twin sized bed with black sheets and covers and so (damn, it was like they thought I was depressed). In the opposite corner was a tree, pomegranate by the look of it, and next to it was a trapdoor with a little sign above it that read '_welcome to Erebos'_. I figured it led down to the Underworld.

I turned around and walked right out the wall again, to find Cruz and Chiron looking at me. I smiled and thanked Cruz, telling him it was awesome, but I needed some time to rest now. They nodded and left, and I was there alone, waiting for Percy.

"Thorn?"

I turned to face said man.

"Come in. I give you, Percy…"

"Jackson."

"I give you, Percy Jackson, permission to enter through the shadows," I muttered more to the cabin than to Percy, and stepped back in, Percy following me.

"Alright, Percy, what the hell is going on?" I asked angrily. Percy sighed.

"Well, Thorn… for the last ten years, the gods have been at war with the Protogenoi."

**O.o REVIEW PLEASE!**

**Oh yeah, a link to a pic of Teagan/Soleil/Ink/Thorn (don't worry, there's only one more name change left, and that's at the end of the story) on my profile!**


	10. Stick Together

_**PERCY**_

I knew it wasn't going to be easy to explain everything to Thorn, as he called himself these days. I had no clue where to start- with my story, his story, what happened to Annabeth…. Uh… I guessed I'd start with the problem at hand.

"Well, Thorn, for the past ten years, the gods have been at war with the Protogenoi."

I can tell he's shocked.

"Okay, maybe I should start at the beginning. My name's Percy Jackson and that's what you're to call me here. Anywhere else, it's Atlantis. I, whoa, I saved the world. Yeah, from the Titans. After that, I don't know, a year or two later, one night, I was kidnapped. Chaos wouldn't let me go back, even though I struggled and protested. I wasn't allowed to go back. I wasn't even allowed to say goodbye. My girlfriend read a goodbye note that I didn't write, and she joined the hunters. Then, about fifteen years ago, she left and had a kid. Right after he was born, she vanished.

This whole time, the Primordial Army was forming and getting stronger and the Protogenoi were getting greedy. Thorn, the third, fifth and sixth regiments, the Aerocorps, and the Soul Legion are the only forces that remain loyal to Chaos. That would be Aether, the Aerocorps, Ananke, the third regiment, Thalassa, the fifth regiment, Nyx, the sixth regiment, and us, the Soul Legion, under Chaos. We swore to protect mankind against any threat."

It was a lot to take in- I knew it, and Thorn looked pretty confused. Aand… it didn't make me like him more. Well, how could I? He was Annabeth's son, for the gods' sake!

"Why do you hate me?" His words were so quiet that I actually would have missed them, had I not had one of Chaos' many blessings- extremely fine hearing.

"Look… Thorn… it's… it's complicated, okay? It all has to do with… with your mother."

"Annabeth?"

"Don't say her name!" I snapped, but immediately regretted it. I don't know how, but in those few moments between when I said 'it didn't make me like him more' and now, I had grown fond of the boy. … And that moment's over. Thorn looked taken aback and I started pacing the room, trying to think clearly.

"Annabeth Chase was my girlfriend, Thorn. I was so frickin' in love with her- I was gonna marry her! Earlier that day, the day I was kidnapped, I had been ring-shopping, and had found one, but I didn't buy it, 'cause I needed more money. That's why I can't stand you, Thorn! You're from her and a guy who's not me! Your facial, hell, your body structure is like her!"

"Please leave."

Honestly, I hadn't been expecting that. Thorn was lying on his back on his bed, looking at the ceiling, but his voice was angry. I felt the power of the primordial god seeping from him; the shadows cast by the fireflies were closing in on me, pushing me towards the wall, pushing me out, out of Thorn's life.

"Thorn, we have to stick together, Thorn!" I shouted, but the next thing I know, I was on my back in the grass in front of the Erebos cabin. Oh great.

.

_**THORN**_

I don't think I slept at all after Percy left. Part of me was wondering why I had been so mad at him, and the other part was absorbing everything. This dude's girlfriend (ex?) is my mother? Two words: messed up.

Eventually, exhaustion took over, and I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep, not waking up until well past twelve the next day.

"Thorn… Thorn… THORN! IN THE NAME OF THE GODS, GET OUT OF BED!"

"What the he- whoa!" I spluttered, my eyes opening abruptly and falling out of bed. "Who are you? What are you doing in my house?"

A groan, then: "This is your friendly neighborhood stalker, Ryan Belfast, son of Heracles, sent by Chiron to wake you up and tell you it's time for lunch," a voice replied. I looked up to see a small but muscular teenager with brown hair and grey eyes, wearing a bright orange shirt and black shorts.

"How did you get in here? I thought At- Percy said only people with permission from me could," I muttered, getting up and brushing my clothes (that I apparently slept in) off. Ryan grinned at my question.

"Chiron showed, or rather told, me a little trick. Don't worry, right now, the only people who can come in are Chiron, Percy, and me. Although, if you specifically forbid any of us to enter, we, of course, can't. So, uh, you'll find a change of clothes under your pillow, and I'll just wait outside until you're done changing, okay? Great!"

Well, he was in no hurry to leave all of a sudden. Not the sarcasm.

I turned to my bed, slightly suspicious of how the clothes could have gotten there and whether or not Ryan was just playing tricks on me. However, when I lifted the pillow, there was a pair of black jeans, an orange t shirt, and, surprisingly, a black beanie. Why the hell would they give me a hat? I shook my head and started to change out of my old dirty clothes and into the new ones.

Out of habit, my eyes scanned the room for my sword and its sheath to attach to my belt, but there was nothing there. It made me slightly sad- like part of me was missing.

.

.

.

Chiron said that since it was my first day at Camp Half-Blood, I'd just tag along with Kenny and Ryan (who apparently had the same schedules) to the afternoon classes, namely sword fighting and rock climbing (up a wall with lava, great).

"So, you'll be with Ryan, since he always had to pair up with the instructor," Kenny was finishing up his sentence as he, his siblings, the Poseidon cabin, Ryan and I were standing in the Arena, where sword fighting class took place. The only weird thing was that Percy wasn't there. Maybe he was skipping classes or so. Could you do that here?

"Alright, listen up! For as long as I'm here, I'm your instructor!" a voice shouted across the Arena. We all turned, and, to my surprise, there stood Percy Jackson, his weird bronze sword drawn. "You will team up as follows: Kenny and Janette, Owen and Simon, Basil and Marina, and Ryan and Thorn. Uh, Thorn, come, let's get a weapon for you. The rest of you, get warmed up. And Owen and Simon, try not to kill each other. Keep an eye on them, will you, Ryan? Thanks."

I'll be straight up with you. I was honest-to-god confused. After being nudged by Ryan, I followed Percy into a small tools shed next to the arena.

"I know you're used to fighting with a sabre, but they don't really make these here," Percy spoke, his back turned. I figured he was still pissed from our conversation last night. "But this should do." He turned, holding the butt of a sword in my face. I took it, examining it closely.

Like my old one, it was black metal, and about the same length. The only real difference, I figured, was that it was shaped like a triangle, like swords you always saw in movies. I nodded; the sword felt balanced in my hand. Without another word, Percy brushed past me, leaving the weapons shed. A chill ran down my spine as I was left alone.

The shadows started bending towards me, trying to tug me into them. I would have willingly gone with them, into the comforting depths of the worlds they showed me, but something was off. Majorly off. As a sudden paranoia rushed through me, I ran out of the weapons shed, past my startled sword fighting class, and towards the borders.

Something was there, I knew it!

Soon, I heard shouts from up ahead.

"Help, someone, help! Get Chiron! Get an Apollo camper!"

It was the border patrol.

I pushed them aside as I stumbled forwards, towards the body on the ground. My eyes met pale golden ones.

Madcap.

Recognition beamed in his eyes, and it was only then that I noticed the profusely bleeding cut on his forehead.

"Madcap, what's-"

"They're coming. Quick, it has begun. This is war."

And then he passed out. Talk about dramatic.

Right around then I saw the army marching towards us.

Shit….

_**I am back! Aw yeah! So, find out what happens next next weekend when I have another two extra days off! **_

_**Oh yeah, an image link to Thorn is on my profile, please check it out :) **_


	11. Two Many Prophesies

**REVIEW!**

"Uh... guys?" I shouted over my shoulder. "I need a little help here…."

There were several shouts as I heard people seeing the army and staring to run around. Metal clanked on metal as people got their weapons ready, and a hand yanked on my shoulder. Involuntarily, I let go of Madcap to turn and face Percy and Chiron.

"Come on, we have to get Madcap to the infirmary or something!" I shouted at them. Chiron just raised his eyebrows.

"Madcap? You know this young man?"

Percy was frantically shaking his head, but honestly, I didn't care anymore.

"Yes, yes, of course I do. Just get him to the infirmary, we can't talk now! In case you haven't noticed, there's an army marching towards us!"

Percy sighed.

"He's right, Chiron. I may not know the boy and it doesn't matter how Thorn knows him but he's obviously hurt."

After a brief pause, Chiron let in.

"Okay. Madison! Hennessey! We need to get this… camper to the infirmary!" He called over to an Apollo sister and brother. Then he turned back to us. "I want you two fighting. Percy, I know you can fight, and Thorn, I assume you can fight well too. And-"

A hand grabbed my shoulder (what is it with people grabbing my shoulder today?). I spun around to see a creepy looking petite blond girl. Judging by the green smoke curling around her I took a wild guess and proclaimed her the oracle.

"_Once lost, now found_

_A young soul no longer bound_

_You have a choice_

_To see your home in flames_

_Or to play their games_

_Either one you need a partner_

_But beware the Bane_

_He stands and laughs_

_At your sick little game"_

Okay, I thought. What the fuck? I turned to Chiron, whose eyes were wide open at the oracle.

"The Great Prophesy," was all he muttered.

The Great Prophesy?

"Chiron, sorry, but we have no time. And anyway, as I remember, these things have a way of unfolding themselves without our intentional help, okay? So let's just focus on protecting camp," Percy said to Chiron and I nodded in agreement.

The next few hours were a blur of screams, metal, blood and whatnot. I don't remember even half of it. I only remember that Percy and I were at the front. We were leading the camp along with some Ares kids. The enemy was drawing back.

Sometime in the evening, _it_ happened. The loud booming voice. The voice that kinda destroyed everything.

"_It is a pointless struggle, foolish demigods. The only people you should be fighting are yourselves, for you have just let three traitors into your camp. One of them carries the last of a minor god in his soul. The other's soul is made of shadows, of Erebos. And the last? Your old hero? He is their leader. _They_ are the reason we can do this. _They_ are the reason you will lose. _They_ are your real enemies. Well, them, and my personal assassin_."

By the end of the speech I found myself curled up on the grass ground, shaking, tears running down my cheeks. I knew that voice. That voice was evil. That voice was ancient. That voice… was part of me. It was Erebos. Everything I knew, everything I had learned, everything from my time in the Soul Legion and before came crashing down upon me. _Everything but my name_.

"_We will retreat for now. But mark my words, we _will_ be back tomorrow_."

The army was gone. The battle faded. My vision blurred. I slumped, my head falling backwards, my sword leaving my hands. The last thing I remembered was curious and frightened faces crowding around me.

.

.

.

"Thorn?"

The voice was soothing.

"Thorn?"

I liked it.

"Thorn, please, wake up."

Slowly, I opened my eyes, and found them to meet pale gold ones. Madcap. A smile made its way onto my mouth as I saw the familiar shaggy blond hair.

"Hey, Madcap."

"You remember," he smiled.

"How could I forget? You were the only one who was nice to me at the Soul Legion."

"Aw, come on, many people liked you. But true, I was the only one who was openly your friend."

"Thorn? Madcap?" we both turned to see Chiron and Percy standing in the doorway. Both looked sad, but they were different kinds. Chiron seemed sad about something on a much larger scale, whereas Percy just looked about as sad as we felt- we were now exposed. "Can we come in?"

Madcap and I nodded. I sat up in bed, giving Madcap more room to sit down next to me. It was only then that I noticed I wasn't actually in the infirmary. I was in some other room, slightly dark, presumably in the Big House. Chiron and Percy made their way over to another bed next to me and Percy sat down.

"We have bad news. Very bad news. You three are suspected to be the people that _the voice_ talked about." _So they don't know it's Erebos. _"Also, they mentioned an assassin. This is very bad too. But, I guess, the worst is that Georgina spouted the Prophesy at you. We should probably include you three on the current prophesies, alright?"

We nodded in unison. It was apparent to us that we had no intention of telling anyone anything about where we came from and what we did and what truth Erebos' voice held.

"Well, you've already heard the Great Prophesy. However, a night before you two arrived, Percy and Thorn, there was another one relating to the Bane. It goes as follows:

_The Bane is near_

_But have no fear_

_Will he get help from the tide_

_Or can he run and hide?_

_Shadow, gold and water combine,_

_Will the Bane's destiny entwine?"_

Well, isn't that bright, was all I could think. The next thing was: Oh shit, one of us is the Bane.

**Sorry for the short and crappy update. In case you couldn't tell, I am quite inspirationless at the moment. PLEASE REVIEW!**


	12. Strix Nebulosa

**Trying to update as much as possible here. PLEASE REVIEW!**

I turned to look at Chiron upon my sudden realization that one of us was the Bane. Chiron looked back gravely. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Madcap's mouth form a 'no' and Percy softly shaking his head. Wait, what? Why was Percy shaking his head, I wondered.

"In the time that you three were recuperating, the Camp Counselors had a meeting. They voted to put a house-arrest on you three. They are not ready for the prophesy to unfold yet. And frankly, the gods also aren't."

"What?" I had never heard Madcap sound angry. "They can't do that!" His voice lowered. "Let me talk to them. Let me talk to the Olympians. They have no clue what they're dealing with, believe me!"

The look Chiron sent Madcap could have killed. I mean, had he sent me that look, I would have curled up in a hole somewhere and cried, that's how bad it was. Luckily (for him), Percy didn't see it. Madcap, however, didn't cower or anything. In fact, I could see his fists curl up as anger seemed to radiate from him. It looked downright scary from the side, but Percy, who could see him from the front, well, Percy's fear was written visibly on his face, something I had never seen and probably would never see again.

"You have got to be careful! What's out there is bigger than any of us, _any_ of us, and no one is even close to prepared for fighting this war! I know that the Olympians are refusing the help of the Soul Legion and the rest of the regiments that are still loyal to Chaos. Don't look so surprised, old centaur, I know much more than you would assume!"

Well, that was definitely unexpected.

Chiron sighed and looked Madcap in the eye.

"I had my suspicions when I saw you, but now I am sure. You _must_ be careful. The Athena cabin already has some theories- and they are getting very close to the truth. This goes for all of you now," Chiron continued, his voice rising. "The Athena and Hecate cabins are getting dangerously close to uncovering who you are. The Hecate children are detecting what they claim to be 'unnatural' magic around you. The Athena cabin is just smart."

"I will not have this, Chiron, I just won't!"

"Well then it's good that the Hecate cabin already placed the Arrest Spell on this room."

That seemed to be the final straw for Madcap, who was acting _really_ weird. He rushed at Chiron with unnatural speed, his hands clenching around the centaur's neck. Chiron reared back, but his hooves didn't seem to harm Madcap. On the contrary, as soon as they hit Madcap, they turned immobile, to solid gold.

With a wrench, Chiron pulled himself away, and the gold faded from his legs.

"You have no clue what you're doing," Madcap snarled, but Chiron remained unfazed.

"Be careful, Chrysus, be very careful," was all he muttered.

Then he turned and stormed out of the door, slamming it in the process. It gave a gut-wrenching _click_ as it seemed to lock itself, and the harsh reality dawned on us: we were stuck.

.

.

.

"Bring me my assassin," Erebos commanded. The soldier, a young man named Theo, scuttled off through a door to the right of Erebos' thrown. He waited impatiently for what felt like forever, but a few minutes later, Theo came back, a person following him.

The person was obviously female. She was wearing, over a black long sleeved shirt, silver leather armor with a black symbol on the front and black slim fitting jeans. The combat boots on her feet moved swiftly and noiselessly over the floor. To any normal person or god or demigod, there was nothing visibly dangerous about her. But Erebos knew. He knew of the fifteen concealed knives on her person and the vicious attitude that made her such a _damn good_ assassin.

Her blond hair was pulled in a ponytail, as always, and a sleek black masquerade mask covered her eyes.

"You called for me?"

Her voice was so beautiful; too bad her heart belonged to someone else, Erebos mused.

"Yes, Strix. I did." Her full name was Strix Nebulosa, but after a few times of calling her that, Erebos had found it quite a mouthful, and shortened it to Strix. "It has come to my attention that the small forces at Camp Half Blood have extra reinforcement. A spy has told me that they have the Soul of Chaos, a spirit reborn in a boy, and… my Soul. They need to die."

His assignments were plain and simple, and he knew Strix would follow them. It wasn't out of loyalty that Strix served him. He had something to hold over her. Her sanity. Should she every betray him, she would lose her mind, her oh-so-sharp and clear and level mind. She would lose all worth living for. Erebos knew her. She would never wager that.

"The Soul of Chaos?"

"Yes, Strix, the Soul of Chaos. A man formerly known as Perseus Jackson. You may remember him," he added, as he saw Strix visibly stiffen. "The spirit is unimportant, he goes by Madcap- I just want you to send him to Tartarus, preferably cut up in a thousand little pieces. My Soul has gone by many names, though I believe his current one is Thorn Valentine. Hmm… the boy does have taste when it comes to names. I must remember to congratulate him on that when he enters my realm."

"Thorn Valentine…" Strix' voice faded off to darkness. Then she snapped to attention again. "Kill them or bring them here?"

Erebos considered it.

"Well, if you can, bring them here. If they struggle too much, have your fun killing them."

"My reward?"

"Jeesh, you aren't a bounty hunter, Strix. But fine, you will have a reward. I will give you three hours in the Library of Nyx if you bring them to me alive. If you kill them, I will give you three hours in the Library of Theia."

Strix nodded, turned on her heel, and left the room.

**O.o**

**I think I made it pretty obvious who Strix is x)**

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	13. The Joker and the Kaleidoscope

**Review, please? Thanks :)**

"Strix! Wherefore art thou going, Strix?"

Strix spun around to face the boy behind her. He was tall and lean, clothed completely in red and black the way Strix was in black and silver. Here and there, playing cards poked out of his clothes. The assassin's mask he was wearing, which really was just a masquerade mask, was, like Strix', sleek and black, though rougher, like it had a more masculine touch to it.

"A mission, Joke. Nothing that requires your or Scope's help."

"Ooh, a mission, goody, fill me in," Joke, whose real name was Joker, grinned gleefully as he fell into pace with Strix.

"Did I hear a mission?" Both Strix and Joke turned to their left to see a girl, about equal in height to Strix, walking alongside. Her assassin's color combination was black and purple, but unlike the other two, her mask was not plain black. Along the edges of it and around the eyes were rainbow sparkles. It seemed like a childish idea, but it gave her a certain aura of uncertainty that made her such a wonderful assassin. Her full name was Kaleidoscope, but, like the others, it was shortened- Scope.

"Oh my god. It's a mission from Erebos, okay? I need to do it on my own," Strix explained, somewhat frustrated, glaring at Joke and Scope in turn.

"Oh but it's no mission without us," Scope pouted and Joke nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it's no mission without your friends," he added, sounding dead serious and a tad bit gay, Strix found.

"Guys, you aren't my friends. Now leave me alone," Strix muttered, leaving two dumbfounded assassins in her wake, making her way towards the exit, trying not to think of the important ties she had just cut- the two people who actually liked her.

.

.

.

"What the flippety fins is wrong with her?" Joke muttered as he and Scope ran side by side around the Ethereal Track. It was part of Aether's gym, and was a basic 400 meter track, just built on stars. Of course, ever since Aether had taken his Aerocorps and left to take Chaos' side, the track had been slightly faulty, but for Joke, it never was. It was a tricky situation he was in, being Aether's assassin and all.

But Aether understood. He was one of the few gods who actually understood human emotions, and he let Joke stay because he knew Joke would have no friends on Chaos' side. He knew how much Joke depended on Scope and Strix to be there, and he knew that the three of them really were good people at heart, forced into being assassins.

"No clue," Scope responded, brushing a strand of straw blond hair with died pink tips out of her face. She was a demigod daughter of Iris, and had inherited her mother's love for anything colorful. Her hair, which was actually straw blond, had rainbow stripes starting at the top and fanning out. It was like zebra stripes, she found.

"I mean, why would she just leave like that? We're always included, even when the mission doesn't involve us!"

"Maybe… ooh, maybe she was sent to Camp," Scope stopped in her tracks, her arm swinging out to stop Joke who crashed into it and almost fell onto her.

They weren't wearing their uniforms in the gym. It was the only place, except bed, where they didn't, for when they were in, no one else was. It was vital to them that no one but the other assassins saw their real faces. Joke looked down onto Scope's near-lime green eyes. A sharp smile spread over his lips, and his own dark blue eyes sparkled.

"Yeah… you know, I have an idea. The other day I overheard a meeting Erebos had. He thinks that Atlantis, Ink and Madcap are at camp. You know, I bet she was sent to kill them."

He watched in displeasure as Scope's face fell.

"Aw… I really liked Ink."

"You never really met him," Joke reminded her.

"Yeah, but I had to shadow him. I don't know, there's just something about him, it reminds me, in an odd way, of Strix. He's such a sweet boy, but totally oblivious."

"Oblivious?"

"Oh yeah. The kid, Madcap, I think, is completely in love with him," she smiled.

"But… they're both guys…" Joke trailed off, finishing his thoughts for himself. "Oh."

From the corner of his mouth he blew a strand of chocolate brown hair out of his eyes.

"You know, I'm thinking we need to get out of here. We'll work for Chaos. I'm really worried for Strix," Joke looked seriously concerned, yet his eyes were light with excitement.

"Easy for you to say, Joke. You know that Hemera will take away my memories of my dad if I leave. I'm sorry, I just can't do that."

Joke pouted. Normally, it wouldn't have affected Scope, but he looked so damn cute when he did it. She sighed.

"I have an idea. But it will be risky."

.

.

.

I was pacing the room up and down, and down and up again. Percy was lying on his bed, softly snoring, and Madcap was simply glaring out the window. I was still confused about it all- why did Madcap blow up at Chiron like that? Why did Chiron call him Chrysus? Why did his eyes seem so much more golden now? Why had Chiron seemed so afraid when he looked in Madcap's eyes?

I ran the prophesies through my head again. Uh… actually, I found I couldn't remember them. Something about games and Banes, but whatever.

"Thorn?"

Madcap's voice was soft and low. It seemed so controlled.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think the prophesies mean with the Bane?"

I paused before answering.

"I really don't know, Madcap."

"I think I do. I think the Bane is someone who actually knows what's going on, but he doesn't do anything. He even thinks it's funny, to a certain extent. Just at that time, he doesn't really know how dangerous the games are. I think he's going to need help from someone he doesn't want help from."

"Interesting…" I trailed off.

"Thorn- Thorn, I think I know who the Bane is. It's not me- I'm the gold mentioned. It's a long story that I'll tell you when I'm done with this. It's not Perseus- he's the water and the tide mentioned. That really only lets you have two other spots- the _young soul no longer bound_… or the Bane. Thorn, the 'soul no longer bound'- I think they're talking about Erebos' assassin. Thorn, you're the shadow, obviously. But… you're also the Bane."

**Okay, I guess you did sort of see that coming. But still, nice twist, yes? **

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	14. Will Power

**Sorry, but no Joke and Scope in this one :( However, I need your opinions. On my profile there will be a poll about the romances in this story (finally). PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GO VOTE! IT'S IMPORTANT! **

"What the hell, man?" Was all I could think of in response to Madcap's claims. "No, no, no, you've got that all messed up. I can't be the Bane!"

"Oh yeah, and why not?" He sounded really angry. "If you think about it, you'll realize you probably know every single detail that's going on! It's a trait you got from Erebos: you really have to think about some things to realize them for what they are."

Okay, I thought, he's just a little crazy. What frightened me though was that he actually made sense. There was something there, something in my mind, that made perfect sense up there but not when I wanted to say it out loud. It was like a cloud hovering around. You know how you can't touch a cloud? You can't really grasp it? That's how it was.

"I- I just need some time to think," I muttered, standing up from the middle bed and towards the opposite wall with a door I presumed led to a bathroom. As I pushed it open, I found I was right; it was a nice large bathroom, one of the ones you'd expect to find in a mansion. There were three small shelves next to the triangular tub in the corner, each marked with a different letter: a P, a T and an M. I figured, as I looked in the one labeled T, that they were clothes and other assorted toiletries for us.

I sat down on the edge of the tub, closing my eyes, thinking of that cloud in my head. Out of it, I pulled the smaller prophesy.

_The Bane is near_

_But have no fear_

_Will he get help from the tide_

_Or can he run and hide?_

_Shadow, gold and water combine_

_Or will the Bane's destiny entwine?_

So_, the Bane is near_. Pretty simple, I thought. If I was the Bane, I was on my way to camp, falling from Chaos-knows-where. _But have no fear_, well, I didn't destroy anything, and I wasn't dangerous to those people. _Will he get help from the tide or can he run and hide?_ Uh… the tide could be Percy? Yes, I did get help from him, but did I have a chance to run and hide?

A small voice in the back of my head was screaming pretty loudly now. Yes, yes, I did have a chance. I could have run away at any given moment, I could have run away for any numerous reasons, but I didn't.

_Shadow, gold and water combine_. Well, that just happened. The shadow was me, the gold apparently Madcap and the water Percy. _Or will the Bane's destiny entwine?_ What the frick was that supposed to mean? My head reeled as I tried to think of all possibilities, and I probably sat there for several hours, just thinking about that.

Finally, I got to a somewhat plausible and scary solution. Assuming I was the Bane, I was also part Erebos. The voice earlier had clearly (to me) been Erebos, so he was probably leading the enemy forces. He also probably wanted to attain full power, but he couldn't do that because I had part of his soul. So my destiny would either be to die and let Erebos attain maximum power, or to somehow get Erebos back to being a wall around the Underworld. Neither sounded horribly becoming.

.

.

.

Percy couldn't keep his eyes off Madcap. There was something about him, so rough, so powerful. The only time Percy could feel that was when he was around a god. But he was sure Madcap wasn't a god, at least not a major one. The energy around him was unbalanced, almost angry, as if… yes, as if the god had faded and, in a last desperate attempt to stay, transferred part of his spirit into a human body.

Percy racked his brain for any gods of gold. The only story he could think of was the one of Midas, but he was pretty sure that Madcap was not Midas. Anyway, Midas was hardly a god.

His head was already hurting as he desperately tried to remember all the gods that Annabeth had taught him so long ago. And what had Chiron called Madcap earlier? Chrysus? Chrysus… Chrysus… Chrysus! The spirit of gold!

"So you've finally figured me out," a small voice said from next to him. Percy came out of his daze in a shock, whipping his head around to see Madcap's. The gold eyes bored into the green ones as Percy slowly nodded. He should have been afraid, terrified, of golden eyes after the whole Kronos debacle all those years ago, but these eyes were different. They were soft, pale in some spots, strongly shining in others. They were almost fun to look at.

"Good. Now, your next task is to figure out the current Great Prophesy."

.

.

.

Strix surveyed the valley that she had once called her home.

_Down there,_ she thought. _Down there, locked up like animals, are the love of my life and my son. Oh brilliant._

"Now, now, Strix, don't forget your mission," Erebos voice echoed in her head. She growled quietly at it and it laughed, but went away, letting her focus on the task at hand. Quickly, she hid behind a tree as two campers strolled past her. So Chiron still had camp patrol going on. Smart man… centaur. Smart centaur. Unfortunately for him, not smart enough.

Quick as a flash of lightening, Strix had run over to the back of the Big House. Not even out of breath, she peeked through the window she was squatting under. Empty. She pulled herself up onto the ledge, then onto the frame that slightly stuck out. Now she was tall enough to see through the window of the second story. Chiron was in there, talking to some camper. Glad that she had a small gift from Erebos, the ability to make herself invisible in enough shadows (which there were in the twilight), she looked in, trying to read the lips.

"…no, they're on the third story. That was the only place we had free," Chiron seemed to be explaining. "Hennessey, I do not doubt you and your intuition."

The following voice was shouted and loud enough for Strix to hear without lip reading.

"Of course you do, Chiron! Do you know how hard it is to be the only son of Apollo who has no musical talent whatsoever? Who only has minimal healing abilities but scary visions all the time? No, you don't! I'm telling you, we need them!"

When Chiron spoke Strix had to go back to lip reading. It was getting a bit annoying for her.

"Hennessey, you don't hear yourself! Look, I completely agree with you. But you cannot deny that you are a little unstable. The Camp Counsel voted them into House Arrest, and you are not a counselor. You will have to talk to Jaden if you have problems with the House Arrest."

"Unstable? Oh, thanks for pointing that out, Chiron!"

"Hennessey, please do not make this hard for yourself!"

"Chiron, you made this hard for me when you said I was unstable! Please, just leave now."

"Henne-"

"Leave!" Hennessey screamed, and Strix jerked back from the window, nearly losing her balance and falling from the second story window. She heard the muffled sound of hooves make their way out of the room, and a door slamming.

Okay, so they were on the third floor… but where on the third floor?

The quiet clicking of fingernails on the window glass brought Strix out of her thoughts. Then, the half of the window that she was not holding onto, thankfully, opened, and a head poked out. Hennessey looked weak. His face was thin and angular. His think blond hair was hanging all the way down to the face of his neck, chopped unevenly across his forehead. His dark brown eyes were only half open, as if he were struggling to keep awake.

"Whoever you are, take them. They need to get out of here, take them, oh Great Grey Owl. Save us, Strix Nebulosa."

**Do you think we can reach 45 reviews? That's only four… hint-hint-nudge-nudge-wink-wink-punch-punch-kick-kick x)**


	15. The Prophet Falls

**Okay, okay, the anonymous reviewer 'Update' got me. But thanks to the people who also un-anonymously reviewed. It means a lot. Two more and there'll be fifty.**

**PLEASE REMEMBER TO GO VOTE ON MY PROFILE! IMPORTANT! **

**The current stats are: **

**2 for Thorn/Madcap**

**2 for Scope/Joke**

**1 for Percy/Annabeth**

**I'll be honest with you; I'm not making Percabeth a priority here. I just find it easier to write OC/OC. Sorry.**

Hennessey hadn't been feeling well that day. First the excitement of the battle the day before, then Jaden Coolridge, the counselor of the Apollo cabin, had come to say that Thorn, Madcap and Percy had been placed under House Arrest, then the strange vision of the Great Grey Owl, the Strix Nebulosa, helping them, Chiron shouting at him, and finally, him falling out of a second story window in the Big House.

He didn't know what it was- it was all a blur of silver and black, but after he had opened the window and uttered a small prayer to whoever was supposed to help him, he felt a tug on the back of his shirt, and was suddenly catapulting towards the ground. He screamed in pain as he laid there, his arm at a crooked angle. Almost immediately, someone came rushing, the border patrol, probably, and he heard screams.

"Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods," came the hushed voice of a girl from above him. "You! Hey, border patrol! Yeah, you!" Her voice was shrill and panicky. Daughter of Aphrodite, Hennessey presumed. "Oh gods, holy shit, oh no."

What was the big deal, he wondered, as he felt more hands on him.

"Hennessey! Hennessey, honey, can you hear me?" He knew that voice! It was Madison, his older half-sister. He nodded slightly, his eyes still clenched from the pain in his arm and the unnatural warmness at the back of his head. "Alright, Henny, I have to set your bone. Uh, here" –he felt a hand being placed on his- "hold Kelly's hand. If it hurts, just squeeze it, okay? So… one… two… three."

Pain cursed through Hennessey, worse than ever before. He opened his mouth and let out the loudest scream he could muster. His left hand was squeezing so hard on Kelly's that he was sure he was breaking her fingers, but she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she was squeezing back. Then Hennessey remembered that there was a daughter of Ares called Kelly, and this was probably her.

Ever so slowly, Hennessey's world began to fade to black.

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"Joker! How positively wonderful it is to see you! How are you, my boy?"

Joker smiled as he embraced Aether. Aether had never been a master to him, always a father figure. When Aether had offered him the chance to be his assassin, Joke had jumped at the idea. He was probably the only assassin who felt so. He knew that Strix was only there because Erebos held her sanity over her, and Scope was there because Hemera had access to Scope's only memory of her dad, whom she loved dearly.

"I've been better, Aether, honestly," Joke responded, and Aether got a seriously worried look in his sky blue eyes.

"What is it, Joker? Is it girl trouble? How is Kaleidoscope?" A twinkle had returned to the primordial god's eyes, as if they were laughing a friendly laugh. Joke blushed about five different shades of red at the mention of his fellow assassin, but beat around the bush.

"It's not that, Aether. We think Strix is in serious trouble, and the only way we can help her is if we join your side. Scope and I need a private audience with Chaos."

Aether frowned. He didn't do it often, and Joke hated making him frown.

"Joker, you must understand that Chaos is not only busy but also extremely upset. For so long he has trusted Erebos, but Erebos has gone and done some irreversible things. Namely, he fused part of Chaos' soul with that of Commander Atlantis. Without Chaos' knowledge. Chaos is slowly shutting himself off from his worlds. But I will try. I can tell this means a lot to you, Joker."

"Thanks, Aether."

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Oh dear god, my head hurt when I woke up. Everything was extremely blurry as my eyes had trouble adjusting. Next to me I could make out a blob of yellow that I assumed to be Madcap's head. The floor seemed brown, so I figured it was wood. After a minute or two, everything was becoming clearer. I was lying on a mattress in a bare room that seemed to be an attic of sorts. On the opposite wall was a full length mirror and next to it two small dressers.

I stood up and looked at myself, half surprised at my appearance.

Someone must have cut my hair while I was drugged/asleep. It was short and spiky in the back, and the front was swept up to the right, also in spikes. I was dressed in a simple black t shirt and black jeans. When I looked in the river labeled 'Thorn', there were several things. The first was a pair of thick socks and combat boots. Suddenly noticing how cold my feet were, I slipped both on. Next was a red belt… hey, I knew that belt! It was my old belt! I put it on in its usual way- across the front of my jeans in a slight diagonal.

After a few more shirts and pants, my hand hit the bottom of the dresser. I frowned. It had seemed so much deeper from the outside, I thought. I got on my knees and looked under the dresser, and, sure enough, there was more wood than space. And there was a small hole in it. Naturally, I just had to take the bottom out, not wondering if there were any explosives or so programmed to go off when I did.

Out fell… my sword? Oh gods, my sword! I remembered. Happily I took it up, swinging it around me a few times. It felt so good, so right in my hands, that I couldn't help but smile.

"Careful there, Panther," a coy voice said from behind me. I whipped around to see Madcap standing there, grinning at me. He was dressed in a yellow t shirt and black jeans. His hair was still blond and shaggy, but it looked fine.

"Panther?" I questioned. Where did that come from?

Madcap's face fell slightly.

"You don't remember Tony? Or should I say Grant Rigby Camden of Worcestershire VII?" There was a playful smile around Madcap's lips and a twinkle in his eyes that I had only then noticed. Grant Rigby… Tony! Of course, Tony! Where was he? I had missed him. Well, I guess I had subconsciously missed him, seeing as I didn't remember him till then.

"Where-"

"Madcap, Thorn! I am glad to see you two awake," an icy voice sounded through the room.

Aw, come on!

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Percy was having trouble. He was having serious trouble. The shower would just not turn warm! Okay, he thought, he should probably be worrying about other things than his shower water temperature given the present circumstances, but he really had been looking forwards to a nice, long, warm shower.

"The red and blue sides are reversed," a female voice came through the shower curtain. Percy jumped in surprise, and poked his head out, suddenly very aware of the fact that he was naked. Sitting on the large windowsill was a girl clad in silver and black leather armor, with a black masquerade mask around her eyes. Her blonde curls were pulled back into a loose ponytail. From what Percy could see, she was incredibly beautiful.

"Who… how… why?"

The girl snorted.

"I'm Strix, Percy. I've been sitting here long enough to know that you shower water won't turn warm… and that Madcap wants you to figure out the Great Prophesy. Believe me when I say that there is nothing I'd rather do than help, really, but if I do, I'll lose my mind. Sorry. I really am."

With that, she leapt up and out of the window.

**Whoa, crappy chapter!**

**Can we get up to 50 reviews, pleeeeeeaaaaaseeeeee?**

**VVV**

**VV**

**V**


	16. When You Will

**I'm not really dead! I was just pretty inspirationless... but oh well. I'll try not to make this chapter too suckish. So this should be a pretty important chapter.**

"Lord Chaos?" Joke's usually steady voice was a whisper in the dark room. Was it even a room? The floor felt steady, yet unsteady at the same time, and stars and constellations and galaxies danced across all six walls. Chaos was sitting on a black throne in front of them, his head bent low. His hair was dark red that day, and from what Joke could tell, his shirt was white and his pants were black.

"I don't really want to talk, Joker and Kaleidoscope, but you went through a lot of trouble getting here." He lifted his head. "How may I help you?"

What the young assassins saw shocked them. Chaos's usually black holes for eyes were completely glazed, which made them like mirrors. His usual smooth black skin had cracks in it, like scars, but deeper. He looked positively horrible.

"W-we, well, Scope, uh… let me start over. As you know, I'm Aether's assassin, so I'm in no way bound to the other side. But Scope here, well, she's Hemera's assassin, and Hemera can hold something over her that sort of forces Scope to stay with her."

Chaos turned his head to Scope.

"I assume she's holding memories over you?"

With a quick nod, Scope answered his question, and Chaos sighed, leaning back in his throne.

"Go on," he muttered to no one in particular, and after looking at Scope and shrugging, Joke kept talking.

"Well, a friend of ours is in trouble, and I believe we're on the wrong side of this war. We want to join your forces, Chaos, but there is the one problem about Scope. She can't leave Hemera, otherwise she'll lose all memory of the person she loves the most in this world, namely her dad."

Chaos raised his eyebrows at that and his eyes flicked over to Scope, who blushed and looked down at the floor. In his mind, Chaos chuckled. Joke was so oblivious. To Chaos, it was obvious that Scope had long since forgotten the important details about her father; that she just kept that up as a charade to hide her feelings from her co-assassin, the one person/being she was not allowed to fall for.

All horribly tragic, Chaos found. Humans and gods always found a good way to make a love story tragic and dramatic.

"I think I can help you. Kaleidoscope, a word in private?"

The look that Chaos sent Joke made it clear that the creator didn't want him there, but Joke only grudgingly left. Once said boy had closed the door lightly behind him, Chaos turned to face Scope, who was now staring directly into her reflection in his eyes.

"I will admit, Kaleidoscope, it was a well- played charade, that about your father. But Joker is a smart boy. If I tell you the solution to your problem and you just walk out of here, he will have questions, questions that you may not be ready to answer. Okay, but first and foremost, you joining my side. I am, of course, delighted. Strix really could use your help right now, and I have a feeling that there's a certain misunderstood son of Apollo who'd gladly become my prophet, oracle, whatever.

Hemera was sneaky about binding you to her. She knew she didn't have enough power to but a full memory-binding curse on you, so she used common phrases. When she recruited you, she did so in private, in her own little world. As long as you're not in Hemera's world, you will hold on to every memory of Joker."

"And what if I do happen to enter Hemera's world?"

"I will leave it up to Joker to help you with that. He needs to give you a physical sign of his affection, like a ring or another trinket. You can then hold that in the river Styx until you feel it's ready. It's quite the dangerous and dramatic ritual, but you humans seem to have a love for anything dangerous and dramatic. I think it's safe to say that you are hereby freed from Hemera's service and are now the official assassin of the Soul Legion. Congratulations, Kaleidoscope."

.

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"Hey, what the hell?" I shouted as Madcap and I were roughly taken from our room and thrown into some kind of cell.

"Oh, hey guys," Percy's always cheerful (hint, notice the sarcasm) voice sounded from the back corner. I spun around to face him, a sudden anger boiling up in me. "Nice of you to join me. Nice haircut, Ink."

I narrowed my eyes.

"I think we all agree that Thorn is a way better name for me," I remarked, my voice sounding a lot snider than I had intended.

"Works for me," Madcap said, and Percy's eyes zoomed over to him.

"Any name for him would work for you," he muttered. I could practically feel Madcap's anger coming from him in waves, and I spun around just in time for my arms to catch a fuming incarnation of the god of gold. Hmm… he looked… cute, I guess. Yeah, cute, with his eyes narrowed and his mouth set in concentration. Cute, when he… was thinking about killing someone. Why it didn't bother me that I suddenly found a guy cute was beyond me.

"You watch your trap, Jackson," Madcap hissed, still struggling against my arms. Percy's eyes widened as they med Madcap's and a steely iciness settled between them, seriously. The only parts of me that remained warm were my arms, which were slung across Madcap's chest, trying to keep him away from destroying Percy, which, in that moment, I felt he was capable of.

"Don't look so surprised, Perseus Jackson. Being more god than human has its perks," Madcap growled, but the struggling stopped, and I was suddenly very self-conscious that I was practically hugging Madcap.

_Okay, seriously_, I thought. _You're in the middle of a war and you're thinking about how you might be gay? _Hey, they say some serious life decisions are made under great stress!

I still hadn't let go of Madcap.

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Hennessey was lying on a bed in the infirmary, and it was so goddamn ironic, because he was a son of Apollo, unable to heal himself. He sighed and closed his characteristically brown eyes, trying to get some sleep. However, that plan was abandoned after a few seconds, when his eyes constantly kept fluttering open. Eventually, he heaved himself out of bed and looked at his right arm.

His lower arm was wrapped in a bandage, not one of the huge ones you get in hospitals, but one of the ones which were soaked in nectar before being applied. On his elbow was one of those grey and blue stretchy medical things they usually put on ankles or knees. Apparently, the Apollo cabin also used them on elbows.

"Hennessey!" The near-brown haired boy looked up, just in time to see a flash of blond, and suddenly Madison, his older sister, was there, hugging him.

"Easy, Maddy, easy," he murmured into her hair, which, as always, smelled like her shampoo, a surprisingly pleasant smell.

"Sorry, Henny. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Hennessey said through gritted teeth, and it was obvious to him that Madison knew he was lying, but thankfully she said nothing.

"Well, there's bad news and… well, bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"

"Let's go with… bad news. There seems to be so little of that," Hennessey grinned at his sister.

"Well, _that_ bad news is that your arm's broken and will probably remain so for quite a while."

Hennessey nodded, taking it in.

"The other bad news is that Madcap, Thorn and Percy are gone."

At that, Hennessey did raise his eyebrows.

"Does anyone know how it happened?"

"Well… you're not going to like this, Hennessey, but whoever took them left behind an etching. It was that of an owl. A great grey owl, to be exact."

"Strix Nebulosa…" Hennessey muttered, putting his head in his hands. He heard Madison sigh and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Jaden said it was better you take a break for a while."

_Of course_, Hennessey thought. _No one wants a lying prophet._

It was strange, how he had become the 'prophet'. Maybe they just couldn't have a male oracle, so he became the 'prophet'.

_But no one wants a prophet who puts his trust in the wrong prophesies and the wrong people in them._

**So that was it for today, I hope you liked it :) Please, please, please, please, please REVIEW! **

**Also, here are the poll results so far: **

**Thorn/Madcap: 3**

**Percy/Annabeth: 2**

**Joke/Scope: 2**

**Scope/Percy: 1**

**Chaos/Nyx: 1**

**I think Thorn/Madcap are a pretty clear favourite, and I also like Joke/Scope. Still not too sure as to whether or not put Percy/Annabeth in here. As I said, if I do, it won't be major.**

**So till next time, please REVIEW!**


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